Healthy Halloween
Here are tips for making Halloween a little healthier this year:
Feed them first: Make sure your kids are fueled up with a healthy snack or meal before they go trick-or-treating, so they don't fill up on sweets.
Pillow cases are for pillows: Give the kids smaller treat bags like recycled grocery bags so they won't bring home loads of sweets.
Surprise them with health, not horror: Be the healthy house on the block by offering treats like pre-packaged snack-sized dried fruit, pretzels, popcorn or apples.
Give them treasures for treats: Hand out boxes of crayons, stickers, colored pencils, erasers, temporary Halloween tattoos or rubber spiders.
Patrol the treats: After inspecting all treats to make sure they're safe, remind the kids to eat their treats in moderation. Store the bag in a high but public place so you won't be tempted to indulge too often yourself.
Source: Alliance for a Healthier Generation
Wilson Orthodontics candy buy back
- Gainesville office, 1220 Sherwood Park Drive NE, 2-6 p.m. Nov. 3
- Hoschton/Braselton office, 5415 Thompson Mill Road, Suite A, 2-6 p.m. Nov. 2.
Healthy Monday
Every Monday The Times looks at topics affecting your health. If you have a topic or issue you would like to see covered in our weekly series, contact senior content editor Edie Rogers via e-mail, erogers@gainesvilletimes.com.
Every kid knows treats are the best part of Halloween.
But every dentist and orthodontist cringes when thinking about the 93 percent of American kids who will consume more than $2 billion worth of Halloween candy this year. For the first time, orthodontist Dr. Ron Wilson is holding a candy buy back program at his offices in Gainesville and Hoschton in early November.
Kids can trade 5 pounds of candy for $10 gift certificates to Blockbuster, Target or Starbucks. Trick-or-treaters also can trade in 5 pounds of candy for a chance to win a Nintendo Wii.
"For our patients who have braces, they're not supposed to be eating all that candy, anyway. It increases the number of repairs needed," he said. "And for the general population, candy is not all bad in moderation, but too much can lead to tooth decay, chipped or fractured teeth, hyperactivity and weight gain."
After Halloween each year, Wilson said he sees a spike in the number of kids coming to him needing repairs to their braces.
"They have broken brackets or appliances. Basically, they eat the stuff they're not supposed to eat when they have braces, such as anything that's hard or chewy," he said. "When they bite down, it can knock a bracket off."
Jolly Ranchers and suckers are often the culprits, he said.
Wilson said he understands most people enjoy a sweet treat every once and a while, and encourages people to decrease their chances of tooth decay by eating candy with meals and minimizing the frequency of indulging their sweet tooth.
"When you get tooth decay, it has to do with the frequency of candy touching the tooth," he said. "So when you eat candy, it's better to eat at one time and not suck on candy all day. And we always recommend brushing and flossing after meals."
The American Association of Orthodontists has been promoting the candy buy back program for 10 years, but this is the first time Wilson's offices have jumped on the bandwagon. He said he heard an orthodontist in the Midwest collected 650 pounds of candy one year.
So what's Wilson going to do with the pounds of candy dropped off at his office?
Through Operation Gratitude, half of the candy will be sent to U.S. troops stationed overseas. Wilson also invites kids to write a letter thanking troops for their service to accompany their candy gifts. The other half of the candy will be donated to Good News at Noon so the homeless can have a sweet treat, too.